Sunday 2 March 2014

66. A biography in ten albums -parts 5 & 6

5.Stevie Wonder – Innervisions
My copy of Stevie Wonder's 'Innervisions'

I first heard Stevie Wonder’s ‘Innervisions’ at my aunt’s house in Kent in around 1992, along with the Isley Brothers’ ‘3 and 3’ album (and The Who’s ‘Tommy’ while we are about it!). I had been a fan of Stevie’s 60’s Motown work (which of course mainly focused on singles) and wanted to hear his acclaimed 1970’s albums. I listened to this incessantly at University.

Some facts that put this album in context. Stevie was 23 when he released this album- it was his 16th album. He had been a recording artist for 13 years and had been having major his for ten years by the time he had recorded this album. Just think about that for a moment! The maturity shown in this album both in terms of musical experimentation with its mixing of Jazz and synthesisers (courtesy of pioneering act Tonto’s expanding headband’) and lyrical themes is astonishing (mind you Stevie had been doing this since he was 21 with ‘Music of my mind’)

I love footage of I have seen of Stevie recording ‘living for the city’ with Tonto’s expanding headband working the synthesiser’s in the background- they can’t help grooving along! Sadly I could not find this so enjoy this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99gNYaz6YaM
Stevie Wonder 'Living for the City' Uploaded by Freya0815007

This album was part of a run of (in my humble opinion) essential albums from Stevie in the 1970’s. I have all of them in my music collection and I could have easily picked any other of these albums. Why did I choose this one? I love ‘Talking book’ and ‘Fulfillingness’ First Finale’ almost as much and they are just as good. Well, this was the first Stevie Wonder solo album I became familiar with. It will always have a special place in my heart because of this.

My favourite moment on this album is the bridge between ‘Living for the city’ and ‘Golden lady’. The two songs, which are very different (one an acclaimed denunciation of racism in the USA, the other a gloriously euphoric Black pride anthem as a love song. The mournful ‘Oh no!,Oh no!’ ‘Living for the city’ (sung for the ill-fated young man at the centre of the song) fade out and a few sad piano chords play. Then the tune turns joyous and the son ‘Golden lady’ kicks in.

 If I had to choose a favourite track ‘Golden lady’ would be it. This song proves the point that the ‘Personal is political’. This is no mere love song, it is a song of pride in all African American women and their strength.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf31Lt4I9S8
Stevie Wonder 'Golden lady' uploaded by emilwonders

Indeed I love the sequencing of this album. The elegiac ‘All in love is fair’ merges into the infectious Latin beats of ‘Don’t you worry about a thing’- I love Stevie’s conversation at the beginning of this track into the parting denunciation ‘He’s misstra know-it-all’ I also love the cover art which takes Stevie’s physical blindness and turns it on his head. His damaged eyes become able to see things that ‘sighted’ people cannot. The artwork is actually a very accurate portrayal of what Stevie’s eyes actually look like. Stevie Wonder is one of the most important musical acts in my life and this album started this relationship.

6. The Impressions- This is my country/Young Mod’s forgotten story
My copy of the 1996 reissue of The Impressions 'This is my country/Young Mod's forgotten story'

This may be a bit of a cheat, but I am including both albums under this entry as they have been issued as a single CD since they were reissued in 1996. They were recorded by The Impressions in 1968/ 1969 towards the end of Curtis Mayfield’s period with them. I first became aware of these album when they were reissued on CD in early 1996. I was working in a house in Suffolk for five months. I had to spend a large part of the day by myself so listened to the radio a lot. Brian Matthews played the title track from ‘This is my country’ on the radio one morning. I was determined to get the CD the next time I was in Ipswich which I did. I actually brought quite a few CDs in this period which have been important to me ever since (more of which anon).

The two albums reflect on the horrific events of 1968 and the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy (They don’t know’) and the rise of Black consciousness (‘Mighty, mighty (spade & Whitey)). Songs such as ‘Choice of colours’ on ‘The Young mods’ forgotten story’ continue Curtis Mayfield’s career long concern with self-empowerment and self-respect within the African American community. ‘This is my country’ is a still heartbreakingly relevant declaration that African-Americans have a stake in US society which too often they are denied.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_esbRoOeR0
The Impressions 'This is my country' uploaded by ForestasGampas

But there are also tender love songs such as ‘Gone away’ and the ‘The Girl I find’ (which Curtis would revisit on his last heroic album ‘New world order. Curtis would produce versions of ‘Love’s happening’ and ‘Stay close to me’ from ‘This is my country’ for the group the Five Stairsteps (a group I would fall in love with when I got an anthology of their early recordings the following year).

I must admit a soft spot for ‘Seven years’ from ‘The Young Mod’s forgotten story’ because of its skilful interplay of Curtis, Fred and Sam’s voices. It is an unnervingly mature song about a marriage gone sour from a 26 year old.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--wgHJfGCns
Impressions -Seven years - uploaded by Robert Miles

I refer above to the fact that I love soul music because it regularly recognises that the personal is political and that romantic/intimate relationships do not exist in a vacuum but exist in a set of social/political/economic and racial circumstances. These albums love songs reflect this.

I saw The Impressions live twice in the last two years featuring Fred Cash and Sam Gooden, with Reggie Torian singing lead (It says something about Reggie that though he has some big shoes to fill to replace the still missed Curtis he does a magnificent job. It was one of the great experiences of my life. I actually managed to get Sam and Fred to autograph my CD afterwards. I will not forget the slightly strange look Fred gave Sam when he signed. The group sang ‘This is my country’ and ‘Choice of colours’ in the concert, acknowledging the importance of the two albums they came from to a UK audience.

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